A Corner of White

Jaclyn Moriarty — 2014

Madeleine Tully lives in Cambridge, England, the World - a city of spires, Isaac Newton and Auntie's Tea Shop. Elliot Baranski lives in Bonfire, the Farms, the Kingdom of Cello - where seasons roam, the Butterfly Child sleeps in a glass jar, and bells warn of attacks from dangerous Colours. They are worlds apart - until a crack opens up between them; a corner of white - the slim seam of a letter. Elliot begins to write to Madeleine, the Girl-in-the-World - a most dangerous thing to do for suspected cracks must be reported and closed. But Elliot's father has disappeared and Madeleine's mother is sick. Can a stranger from another world help to unravel the mysteries in your own? Can Madeleine and Elliot find the missing pieces of themselves before it is too late?A mesmerising story of two worlds; the cracks between them, the science that binds them and the colours that infuse them."A Corner of White is that rare thing - an astonishingly original novel that speaks equally to the heart and intelligence of its audience." NSW Premier's Literary Awards, judge's comments."It tugs at the heartstrings while teasing the intellect with its wild imaginings. A concoction of science, artistry and magic written with breathtaking ingenuity.' Queensland Literary Awards.

Reviews

Kim Tyo-Dickerson@kimtyodickerson

Mar 1, 2022

The lushly paced world-building of this novel wouldn't let me go, so I re-found this fantasy on my currently reading shelf and dove back in. In A Corner of White, Moriarty brings two teens together through notes passed through a crack between two worlds: modern Cambridge, UK, where Madeleine lives with her mother after running away from her wealthy father, and the Kingdom of Cello, specifically the town of Bonfire, where Elliot lives with his mother after his father disappeared a year ago after an attack by a violent Purple. In Cello, swarms of colors travel the provinces alternatively enhancing behavior, inspiring violent emotions, unearthing secrets, or violently killing anyone in their path. Seasons come and go overnight or for months. And everyone in Bonfire has been told that there hasn't been a crack in the boundary between Cello to the World for hundreds of years. But then a handwritten note gets through. Madeleine spots the note in a parking meter one day, and, being the curious type, decides to write back, and then Elliot, being another curious type, finds her note and writes back, and then events are set in motion that will pull both Madeleine and Elliot into a relationship that is based on their imaginations and full of questions, teasing, and real danger. Because Elliot knows that any subject caught exploring a crack between Cello and the World is automatically sentenced to death. But why? This is a fantasy for Stranger Things fans who enjoy collisions between this world and a paralell world that is both absolutely familiar and totally surreal, with magic to figure out, monsters to defeat (with science!), and mysteries to unravel as the narrative travels back and forth. A rich, complex read for fantasy fans who want to linger in the letters characters write to each other talking about color theory, Isaac Newton, the linguistic oddities between the regions and royal intrigues of the Kingdom of Cello, and the grief that comes from losing a parent. Also a great readalike for Bone Gap. So much more to look forward to in the next two instalments of The Colors of Madeleine Trilogy.

Isa@isapop

Dec 26, 2021

P. R@prwhitehallow

Oct 29, 2021